Sterling stood tall and awaited his fate without flinching. The picture of surrender and compliance. This was a fight he knew he wouldn’t win, and there was more than one way to fight, to win. He had faith that the truth would come out at his trial and he would be found innocent. Leila tried to keep that faith too and wondered, if he stood strong and proud while facing down the law, for her benefit as much as his. To reassure those he held near and dear in the bar that night that true justice would prevail in the end.But Sheriff Thorne had a wicked glint in his eye, one that unsettled Leila and spoke of violence. One she knew all too well. He postured like a man with a small grasp of power in his hands, one who craved more, and was willing to get it at any means necessary. Men like Thorne were a plague to society, tale as old as time, and would be its ultimate downfall. Leila had known many of his kind among the wolves in the Blackwood Pack.“Sterling Mount, you are under arrest for
The air was so heavy inside the Stillwater Bar and Grill, it felt like it was suffocating Leila Dupree, and she could feel the sweat sliding down between her breasts. The joint was packed tonight, just like every night, as there wasn’t much to do in this one stoplight town. It smelled of cheap perfume, cigarette smoke, beer, sweat, and pheromones. Of course, ever since she had been turned, Leila could smell things more sharply. She preferred the open spaces of the great outdoors to appease the wildness that lived just beneath her surface.She paused to lean against the bar and fanned herself with a cocktail napkin. Her eyes drifted to the corner of the bar, where Grandpa Roy strummed his acoustic guitar and sang into a beer smelling microphone about losing his true love. Tonight, he had a bandanna tied around his forehead to soak up the sweat, rather than imitating one of his inspirations Willie Nelson. The old man’s button up shirt was also baptized in sweat, and
By the time Leila returned to the bar room floor, she was feeling somewhat sated, but her carnal urges had not entirely dissipated. She vowed to stay as far away from Sterling Mount as possible for the remainder of the balmy July night. Sterling didn’t make that easy. Even without him looking like he had just rode straight out of a wet dream on his stallion, he had the type of personality that naturally attracted others. He was calm and easy like a gentle, welcomed spring breeze, slow to anger and quick to smile.Sterling was something of a mystery in Stillwater, because somehow he had come from the loins of one mean old son of a gun. Titus Mount had been one hard, mean, and gruff old man. Many claimed it was Vietnam who had changed the man, and he had once been as jovial as his progeny. Lucille had remained ever faithful by her husband’s side, though rumor was she only had one child because of her husband’s hair trigger temper and rapidly changing moods. Lucille didn’t want t
The air was already hot and humid, mosquitos drawling blood on her skin, when Leila opened her eyes on a bed of moss the next morning. She groaned and swatted at the infernal bugs biting her exposed skin. She decided that mosquitos most definitely had been a part of the original plague the Lord himself set upon the Egyptians after they had thoroughly pissed off the man above.Dried blood, crusted and coated down her chin, neck, and chest just made her current situation even more uncomfortable, and her mood worse. Not that she often didn’t wake up coated in blood when her wolf took control, but really would it be too much ask for the beast inside her to go trapesing through some water after a kill?The smell of death was in the air. Along with the smell of soured, brackish waters, decay, and rot from the swamplands all around her. Leila sat up and her eyes gravitated to the carcass lying less than twenty feet away from her naked body. It was hard to tell from the mangled
By the time Leila pulled up to the Stillwater Bar and Grill with the windows rolled down in her beat up old Chevy s10 because the air-conditioner had never worked, she could already smell that Clyde’s body had been removed. Stale blood still permeated the air, and lots of it. It seemed that Clyde had been practically exsanguinated by whomever or whatever took his sorry life. Leila felt bad that she didn’t feel bad the man was dead. But she knew many others in the small town felt the same way.The gravel lot was empty beyond several police cruisers, Sterling’s Ford heavy duty truck, and Zenia’s old tan VW bug. Was it bad that the last thing on her mind should be if Sterling’s large truck was a good comparison to the size of what was between his legs? She somehow doubted he was overcompensating for something. Not that she would be in Stillwater long enough to find out.Leila lost faith in Stillwater’s finest rather quickly when despite the lot being overpopulated with law
The sun was starting to set, the firefly’s twinkling, the crickets and frogs playing their melodies, not a cloud in the sky, the moon and stars peeking out, and the night not too hot, but just right. With Sterling in her arms, it felt almost romantic. Like the perfect set up for some hot, steamy kiss full of pent up sexual tension where the girl and guy realize they are right for each other and no longer deny their sexual chemistry. Leila looked up into Sterling’s blue eyes, and he looked down into hers. She drew a bit closer towards those luscious lips of his, until the beam of a high powered flashlight blinded her. Leila tried to clear away the spots, and drew back from Sterling’s strong, corded embrace. If looks could kill, the deputy holding that damn flashlight in one hand and an evidence bag in the other would have dropped dead on the spot.“Sheriff I have something you’ll want to see,” said the deputy, out of breath.It was clear the man had run out the back door
Sterling lived in a charming little, Spanish inspired white bungalow with an orange slate roof, the type which seemed just perfect and cozy for two. The main section of the house was accessed through a cute little courtyard behind a stone arch. The courtyard was a garden with a variety of colorful flowers, a stone bench nestled in the middle, with a view of the bird bath. A hammock swayed in the breeze. Leila’s imagination got the best of her imaging herself tucked against Sterling on a balmy night like this one, gazing at the stars. And perhaps both of them wearing nothing but sweat.Sterling eyed Leila as she took in his home and garden. She was surprised a bachelor pad had such a well-kept garden. Not surprised the lawn and home itself appeared well maintained and taken care of. Just like the owner himself.“I don’t have a green thumb. This is all my mother Lucille’s doing,” explained Sterling with a grin. “I tend to kill plants. And small animals unfortunately. Not i
Leila stowed her ratty old duffle bag on the seat beside her and said a thanks to the man above when her Chevy started on the first try. She had stuffed everything she cared to bring along in the tattered bag, and left her apartment keys in her mailbox. She wanted to put plenty of miles between herself and Stillwater before the sun can up. She didn’t have a clue where she was going, her plan to just get in the truck, pick a direction and drive. Let the wind take her where it would.She ignored the heavy feeling in her chest as she put the truck in reverse and headed towards the only highway out of town. Her phone rang on the seat beside her. She glanced at the screen, and drew in a deep breath when Sterling’s name and number flashed across the lighted screen. She sat the phone back down on the seat and continued to drive. She had made her decision. The call went to voicemail.Her window stuck and refused to roll down. She cursed and drove on towards the only gas station